Wow, what a whirlwind of a day it’s been for PlayStation. I have no doubt Sony’s PR reps have taken the day (or a few) off as the blowback to their announcement of discontinuing all physical games for PlayStation starting January 1, 2028 dropped yesterday morning. To add insult to injury, the also announced that same morning they’re closing the online store for both PS Vita and PS3 by July 2027, although users of “purchased” content will be able to “download past purchases for the foreseeable future”. And this news also comes hot off the heels of another article where Sony is deleting over 500 movies from from purchase as well as from the libraries of users who purchased any of the affected movies “due to content licensing arrangements”.
Fucking yikes.
I’ve written about PlayStation on here a few times. After all, I’ve been with PlayStation for well over twenty years, growing up with the original PlayStation. I was a champion of both the PS Vita and the original PS VR (review). Hell, I even was hyped for the announcement of the PS5 and was suckered into getting a PS VR 2 (review). I’ve been Team Blue first for decades, even after switching to Team Green as my main during the end of the PS4 / Xbox One era. But then something changed, and I declared I was breaking up with PlayStation. And you know what? I haven’t regretted it years later.
So what happened?
In short, they fucked me. They burned me with the Vita after abandoning it early in its lifecycle. Thankfully indies made that machine a beast until the Switch came out. I love my PS VR so getting the much improved sequel was a no brainer, even if I knew I’d have less time to play as a newly expecting father. But then Sony fucked me again by pulling a Vita with the PS VR 2. It was bad enough my entire back catalog of VR games wouldn’t be compatible, but then to drop it and lay off some of your best VR studios was the last straw. Then there was the PS5 itself….it just sat there. It was a glorified remake, live service, and sequel to a sequal to a sequel machine. The most time I clocked on my PS5 was when I discovered Persona 5 Royal…so a PS4 remake of a PS3 era game. That says something. So I sold both my PS VR 2 and PS5 and have been rocking Steam devices I built, my Series X, and my Switch 2 (OMG THE ENTIRE XENOBLADE COLLECTION IN 4K/60FPS AND DID YOU SEE XENOBLADE GENESIS!!!). Now they fumbled the ball with Bungie and Destiny, laying off hundreds and ending support for one of their only successful live service games. They lost good will there, as will Microsoft when they undoubtably lay off hundreds if not thousands during what is sure to be a bloodbath of an announcement next week amid their ‘XBOX Reset’.
Why do I need PlayStation? I don’t. We had a good run, and I still have my PS One, PS2, PSP, PS3, PS Vita, and PS4. Soon I’ll need to jailbreak all of em to back up my digital purchases and dump my discs because I can’t trust Sony, or any corporation for that matter. I have Steam to give me my JRPG fix, often times cheaper. Sure, I’m aware I’m still buying a license with Steam, but my library travels across devices, across operating systems, and moves with me seamlessly, often times playing better as time goes on and I upgrade my hardware. My saves back up for free and I don’t play anything online, so I have no need for my PS Plus membership. Sony has lost their way. This is the cocky Sony, like the one heading into the PS3 generation, thinking gamers would ‘get another job’ to afford the $500 or $600 asking price or the Sony that is currently in the PS5 generation. They take their fans for granted and assume they’ll always be there while Sony turns their back on them after stabbing gamers in theirs. If they want to sell a $1k PS6, alienating the enthusiasts who love physical games isn’t the way to do it. We had a good run, but I’m done. I’m full Steam ahead (lol).
